Recharge | The Global Church: To the Ends of the Earth

Good to see you all this evening.

Thank you guys so much for leading us to worship Betho.

Chanting wherever she went.

She disappeared.

It's good to see you guys.

It's been a crazy week.

Sunday was a really fun time to get to be with you guys and share about what God's been doing and missions.

And uh Monday morning we got up and drove to Dallas to a missions conference.

It's one of my favorite ones I get to go to from time to time.

And this one is called the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication.

And their goal is to create an alliance of organizations and churches that plants a church on the planet for every thousand people.

And uh the last 15 years they've been together, the IMB is one of the partners, the the um Campus Crusade for Christ, Youth of the Mission, a lot of the big partners, and and and uh and then there's a few churches.

There's only six churches that are partnered with them, and we're one of them, and it makes me so proud.

And uh we get to stand there, and they they gave a report today that out of the 140 organizations that are the partners, over the last 15 to 20 years, they've seen three and a half million churches planted around the world through their partnerships and through their network.

And uh that's an incredible, incredible thing.

They said to reach the mission, again, a church for every thousand people on the planet, we need another 3.3 million.

And uh, so there's a lot of work that remains to be done.

And uh it's an incredible thing to sit in a room full of people from every culture around the world.

There are all kinds of different people coming in.

There's uh amazing how many came.

You know, to come into the United States right now, to get a visa from another country, if you don't have a visa already, you have to pay a$10,000 deposit that you put with the government just to get the meeting to see if they're gonna give it to you or not.

And so all of the internationals that came to the meeting really wanted to be there.

Could you imagine uh the amount of effort it takes for someone to come and be a part of that kind of meeting?

And so yesterday was their largest meeting they've ever had.

Uh last time I went to go in 2022, they had about 250 people all together.

This time was just under 500.

And next year they're meeting in Manila.

They're bringing the international people all to the international destination.

It's a lot easier to get to the Philippines than it is to get to the United States.

And they're capping it at a thousand, so they expect to have more than double the people involved next year at international destinations.

So Heather is there, Kelly Nelson, one of our members, is there tonight as they finish up.

But it really was an incredible thing to get to hear all these stories over and over.

The people that you're sitting at dinner with and sitting at lunch with are these world changers from all over the place.

The guys that are writing all the mission books are there sitting next to you, and they're they're the ones that speak in all the conferences or are just having conversations with you in the hallway.

And it really is an incredible thing.

So thank you for your prayers.

It has been a wild three days since preaching on Sunday.

Uh, I got back here this uh about four o'clock this afternoon, and uh so I'm so happy to be here.

Next Wednesday, my family leaves.

We're gonna go to Romania and Turkey for 10 days on a mission trip.

And so you guys are gonna get stuck with Jason for the next two weeks.

So, like, I felt like I couldn't make it, you have to deal with it three weeks in a row, so it was worth it to get a ride.

We have been walking through these last several weeks on Wednesday nights, just looking at the global church and how God has been working since the beginning of time to draw people to himself.

And tonight we're gonna jump into the book of Acts.

And it is an incredible book.

If you haven't fallen in love with the book of Acts, you need to, because it just takes all the work that Jesus did among his disciples, and you see the overflow of their hearts as it just rolls outwards into the world around them in ways that honestly they didn't anticipate.

They're making some of this stuff up as they go.

Jesus gave them great instructions, and immediately the things that they're dealing with are things that he never told them how to do.

And uh and that's just kind of how some of these things work.

If you've ever been on the mission field, you have to have this flexibility to just go with what the Lord is doing, and you're trying to trust that he's moving in front of you, and you're trying to take the next best step you know is right, and sometimes it changes.

If you ever go on a short-term mission trip, we're gonna train you before you leave.

The one word you have to have before you walk out the door is flexibility.

Because the itinerary never goes the way you think it's gonna go, no matter how well you plan it.

And so this starts out in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

And Luke writes this.

Remember, Luke and Acts were written together as a volume.

And then they separated it when they were trying to put this together.

So the same guy that wrote the book of Luke wrote the book of Acts, and he's trying to give a general history of the church.

And on so here he's moved from the Gospel of Luke into this book, and in Acts 1.8, he gives it what we kind of look at is like a thesis statement for the whole book.

And what he does is he gives you in this one verse what the next 28 chapters are going to look like.

And he says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

These are the last words Jesus speaks before he's ascending into heaven.

And it's such an incredible word that he gives them, and it sets the stage.

So the first seven to eight chapters of Acts happens all in Jerusalem.

And then at the end of chapter seven, Stephen, one of the first deacons, is martyred, and it sets off a persecution against the church.

And from chapter eight to about 15 happens in Judea and Samaria.

The believers go as far as Antioch.

But then chapter 15 and on really is the last half of this verse to the very ends of the known world.

That's where Paul does most of his ministry.

And so that's what we're gonna just introduce today.

Next week, Jason is gonna walk a little bit through Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council and how that shifted and shaped who we are today.

And then the last week is gonna focus on what happened in Ephesus.

It's the end of Paul's journeys.

Um, but today I want to introduce to you these first couple chapters in Acts because it's super amazing.

So these guys, they they watched Jesus ascend into heaven, which had to be just a thing by itself.

If you believe the literal interpretation of this and you watch someone fly up into the sky and never return, it's gotta impact you in a certain kind of way, right?

Have you guys ever seen anything like that?

Like Superman, the movie is probably as close as you get, right?

And uh so this is a wild time, but they don't know what to do, so that they kind of spend some days wondering what do they do next.

And they go back to Jerusalem and they hang out in the upper room for a little while, and then it says in Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 2, that when the when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So suddenly the sound of a blowing and violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews.

Look at this last line.

I think it's a super important line that Luke includes here.

God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

So do you think that every single nation was represented there?

You're like, I can't contradict scripture.

No, but what's Luke saying?

Luke is giving, this is actually an early, listen to this, it's an early fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Go and make disciples of all the nations is the language, right?

And here in Acts chapter 2, he says there are people from all of the nations gathered in Jerusalem when this Holy Spirit comes on the disciples, and they go out.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And what do they do as they go out?

They begin sharing the gospel.

And these people say, Who are these guys from Galilee?

And what are they doing?

They think that they actually have had too much to drink.

So Peter stands up and says, Guys, that's not what's going on here.

And he gives this long sermon, and I want to jump to the end of the sermon.

He says this just a little bit further.

So there's Jews gathered from every nation under heaven.

And then go to verse 36.

It says, Therefore, all of Israel, this is the end of Peter's message.

God has made this Jesus, look at this, think about the the pointing finger of Peter right here.

This Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

And when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

These are the very people who saw Jesus dying on the cross.

They watched his death.

They were there in Jerusalem when this was happening.

This is about 50 days after the event.

So they've seen all this with their own eyes.

And he says, the very Jesus who you crucified is now Lord and Messiah.

And listen to this that they are cut, they were cut to the heart.

Has this story ever cut you to the heart?

I hope so, because it's one of those early things when you first hear the gospel and it changes you, and you go, There's a Jesus that loves me.

There's something about this idea that it rends your heart, it tears you up, and inside you say, something's gotta be different.

For me, I was in fifth grade.

I went to a Bible camp in Arkansas, and this missionary was talking about a God that could change lives in Africa.

He had the spears and the slide deck and the whole thing.

And I thought, if God can change lives in Africa, maybe he can change lives in Arkansas.

And I tell you, when I asked Jesus to come into my life, he never walked away from me.

Like I've made plenty of mistakes, mistakes that probably should have made him say, okay, I'm done with you, Chad.

But he never did.

And in all of my days, since that time when I was 11 years old, he's been faithful and near and close.

But my heart was rent in two that night when that guy was talking about this Jesus that was changing lives in other parts of the world.

This is what happened when Peter was speaking their hearts.

The very ones who had crucified Jesus, their hearts are rent.

And he says, What must we do to be saved?

And Peter responds, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And then look at this promise.

This promise is for you and your children who are far off, and all whom the Lord our God will call.

Peter, on the very first day of the church, prayed for you and for me, those who are far off, whom God is calling.

In day one, the Holy Spirit gave Peter the words to say that there will be many generations coming, and all who are far off, this is that promise for you.

Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Guys, this is day one.

And it went bonkers from here.

The very next verse, look at this.

It says, And those who accepted his message and were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

That day.

Now, do you remember how large the group of disciples were before this day?

All total who were at the ascension, who saw Jesus, and we find out about this in 2 Corinthians, there was about 520.

So the number of disciples in one day goes from 520 to now 3,000 plus.

Guys, if God were to do that in our midst, how would we prepare?

How would we respond?

If 3,000 people showed up Sunday and wanted to get baptized, what would we do?

Well, I'm going to tell you, probably all of you are going to start baptizing people because Daniel and Jason and I's arms are going to fall apart at some point.

Think about the innovation that the church had to go through.

Like, where do you meet with 3,000 new believers?

Later it tells us that they were gathering daily in the temple courts.

Where do they meet every day?

It says they were eating, breaking bread together, house to house.

How many people fit in a house?

Let's just say they have a bunch of nice houses and you can put 50 in them.

How many do you need to put 3,500 people in 50-person houses?

Who leads those houses?

There's only 12 disciples, actually 11.

Where do you go with what do you do with them?

You get what I'm saying?

They had to innovate almost immediately.

And I tell you, one of the things that I love is that this church, this early church, became a leadership factory overnight.

Anyone that had the capacity to lead was given the ability to lead, and they were caring for them and coaching them and helping them learn how to take care of these new believers who were coming quickly.

We're so out of time.

It's so good.

We're going to finish with this next slide and then I'll just give you a little hints for the rest of it.

Remember, we started out with this idea that God was calling the people of Israel to be his people and that they were going to be the stars of the sky and the sand on the shore.

This is the first picture of that.

3,000 added.

It says that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the breaking of bread and to prayer, and they prayed for each other and they gave, so that there were none who had any need.

And they did all of these things, and it said, and the Lord added to their daily those who were being saved.

So the 3,000 is just the beginning.

By the time you get to chapter 4, it says 4,000, just counting the number of men.

Some estimates, mystiologists think that there might have been as many as 20,000 believers in Jerusalem by the time you get to the end of chapter 5 of Acts.

A city of 100,000 had over 20,000 or close to 20,000 believers in it in those first three or four years.

And then you get to the story of Stephen, and that's where we're going to finish.

The story of Stephen, remember the apostles were overwhelmed.

The church has grown so fast, they can't do everything.

The Hellenistic Jews were not getting their food, and the Greek-speaking Jews were upset that they weren't getting their food.

And so they said, it's just too much for us to feed everybody.

We need to raise up some leaders that can take on the serving of the food to everybody.

So they pick these guys.

The one that we know the most about is Stephen.

He becomes one of the first deacons.

It's the first time we see this word, which means servant, right?

And this servant uh gets up and preaches the longest message in the entire New Testament.

The guy who is told we know his job is to feed the Hellenistic Jews and make sure they don't have problems between them.

He gives this long sermon, and then he becomes the first martyr.

And I want to show you Acts chapter 8, 1 through 4.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

It starts out with this verse where it says, Saul approved of their killing him.

So Saul, we meet this guy.

He becomes a really important part of the rest of the story.

And we meet him while he's holding the coats of those who were stoning Stephen to death.

And look at verse 1.

It says, Saul approved of the killing.

And then on that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Godly men buried Stephen and they mourned deeply for him.

But Saul began to destroy the church.

Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

And then look at this verse 4.

This is the hope.

If verse 3 is the terror, verse 4 is the hope.

And those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

What Saul intended for harm.

God intended for good.

But I want you to catch something.

That good didn't come without a cost.

People literally lost their lives, their homes, their livelihoods.

They lost everything.

And as they were losing, they walked away sharing the gospel.

What kind of hope is built into their hearts that upon losing everything that we've worked so hard to gain, they walk away saying, What we have that we haven't lost is worth more.

Let me tell you about it.

And they went as far as Antioch, and in Antioch is the first place they were called Christians.

That's where we're going to stop.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we love you.

And we pray that you would fill us with that apostolic fervor, the passion that would drive us outwards because of your spirit's work in our lives.

God, we pray that you would break our hearts, rend us in two with your spirit, God, so that the things that you care about would make us care about them as well.

We pray, God, that we would represent you well as we walk through these streets.

God, as we care for the hurting, the lost.

God, as these next days come, if we have rains, that we care for those who are overwhelmed with rain, we pray, God, that you would give us your eyes, your vision, that we would see that we have gained everything in gaining Christ.

And that anything we lose is yours and yours alone.

Help us to have your heart in Jesus' name.

We pray.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you guys.

Have a wonderful night.

Uh the threads will happen right here.

Uh choir practice.